Phoenix Police Bans 'Carotid Control' Chokehold

PHOENIX, AZ — As police departments across the country reevaluate their officers' use of chokeholds and neck restraints, Phoenix's police chief, Jeri Williams, announced Tuesday that the department has banned the use of a neck hold that attacks the blood supply to the brain.

The moved, dubbed the "Carotid Control Technique" for its focus on the major arteries on the side of the neck, is different from the kneeling maneuver that was used against George Floyd by ex-Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin, who now faces a second-degree murder charge for Floyd's death.

In a statement posted to Twitter, Williams said, "We can't function as a department without the trust of our community and there are adjustments we can make to strengthen that trust," adding, "We pride ourselves on being an organization willing to learn and evolve, to listen to our community and become better."

The statement did not specifically mention Floyd's or Chauvin's now-infamous use of a knee-on-neck maneuver. In wake of Floyd's death, police chiefs and criminologists have widely criticized Chauvin for appearing to apply pressure to the front of Floyd's neck instead of the sides. (An independent autopsy conducted by doctors hired by Floyd's family found he died from asphyxia, or lack of air. The city's autopsy listed the cause of death as cardiac arrest.)

In an previous interview with the Arizona Republic last week, Williams called the video of Chauvin kneeling on Floyd's neck "unbelievably, disgustingly horrific."

"It's almost disbelief that you're seeing what you're seeing," Williams added. "And then you're yelling at the screen or the monitor, "What are you doing? Get off of him!'"

The policy change in Phoenix follows similar announcements from police departments across the country. In Tempe, a "policy statement" released by the chief on Sunday clarified that the while "chokeholds and strangleholds are not authorized," officers can still use the carotid control technique "in situations involving aggressive resistance."